Mozi was born a commoner and was a coolie. He was proficient in handcraft, which was comparable to that of Luban, a skilled craftsman at that time. He calls himself "my man" and is called "man in cloth" and "bitch". Wang Chong of the Han Dynasty even said that the ancestors of Confucius and Mozi were common people. Mozi used to be a doctor in the Song Dynasty, boasting that "there is nothing better than a monarch in the world, and there is no difficulty in farming in the world". He is a scholar who sympathizes with the "workers and peasants". Mozi once studied Confucianism, learned the skills of Confucius, praised Yao and Shun Dayu, and learned Confucian classics such as poetry, calligraphy and the Spring and Autumn Period. But later, I grew tired of the complicated rites and music of Confucianism, and finally gave up Confucianism and formed my own Mohist school.
Before the rise of the Legalist school representing the interests of the emerging landlord class, Mohism was the most university school opposed to Confucianism in the pre-Qin period, juxtaposed with "outstanding learning".
Mohism is also a group with strong organizational discipline. The supreme leader is called "Giant" and all Mohist members are called "Mohist". They must obey the leadership and command of giants, and they can "go through fire and water, and do whatever it takes", which means they will never look back until they die.
There are ten propositions in Mozi's thought: universal love, non-aggression, Shang Xian, Shang Tong, frugality, frugality, non-happiness, ambition, ignorance and fate, among which universal love is the core, frugality and Shang Xian are the basic points.
In order to publicize his ideas, Mozi accepted disciples widely, with hundreds of disciples in general, forming a huge Mohist school. Mozi traveled widely, starting from Qi in the east, reaching Zheng and Wei in the west and Chu and Yue in the south. He also argued with the public transport class and successfully stopped Chu's war of aggression against Song.
Mozi is knowledgeable and good at craft and production. He once made a wooden kite. It is said that he flew in the sky for three days and nights without falling. He is also good at guarding the city, and his disciples summed up his experience in guarding the city into 21 articles.
Mozi also made some achievements in the theory of Ming debate, which became one of the sources of Ming debate in the Warring States period. Mozi's deeds are reflected in Xunzi, Everything is done wrong, Zhuangzi, Lu Chunqiu, Huainanzi and other books, and his thoughts are mainly preserved in the book Mozi written by Mohist disciples.
A compilation of Mozi's Mohist works, compiled by Liu Xiang as 7 1 in the Western Han Dynasty, was gradually lost after the Six Dynasties. At present, there are 53 collections of Taoist scriptures, all of which were originally created by Mo Zhai, but there are also works by Mozi disciples and later Mohists, which are the main historical materials for studying Mohists now. The book Mozi can be divided into five groups according to its content: Mozi's early seven works, from pro-Confucianism to three debates, the first three are mixed with Confucianism, which should be the traces of Mozi's early "learning from Confucianism and being taught by Confucius"; The last four chapters are mainly about Shang Xian, Shang Tong, Tian Zhi, frugality, non-happiness and other theories. Twenty-four articles from Shang Dynasty to Fei Ruxia are a group, which systematically reflect Mozi's ten propositions: universal love, non-aggression, being present, Shang Tong, frugality, frugality, non-happiness, ambition, ghost and non-fate. Five Chapters from Geng Xu to Gong Bo is a record of Mozi's words and deeds, similar in style to the Analects of Confucius, compiled by Mozi's disciples, and is the first-hand information to study Mozi's deeds. From the following to the last twenty articles (including nine lost articles), "Preparing the City Gate" is devoted to guarding the city skills and the city defense system, and its system is similar to that of Qin, which was written by the Mohist school of Qin during the Warring States Period. This is an important material for studying Mohist military art.
Mozi has a wide range of contents, including politics, military affairs, philosophy, ethics, logic, science and technology, etc. It is an important historical material for studying Mozi and his later studies. In the Western Jin Dynasty, both Lu Sheng and Le Yi commented on Mozi, but it has been lost. At present, the more popular books are Sun Yirang's Mo Zi Xian and the editions included in the Integration of Various Scholars.
Mozi (about 476 ~ 390 BC) was a thinker in the early Warring States period in China and the founder of Mohism. Formerly known as Mo Zhai, he was born in the State of Lu (Song). Born as a small craftsman, he was proficient in manual skills and was as famous as Luban, a famous craftsman at that time. The Mohist school he founded was the first school to criticize Confucianism in the pre-Qin period. At that time, "Zhai Mo's words filled the world", so it was listed as "outstanding learning" with Confucianism. Mohism is a well-organized and disciplined organization. Most of its members come from small producers, and its leader is called "Time". Mo Zhai is the first Mohist "giant". Mozi is a Mohist series with Mo Zhai Thought as its core, with 53 books in total. Although some of these chapters belong to Mohism, they were all written later.
In terms of social thought, Mozi put forward ten propositions, namely, Shang Xian, Shang Tong, frugality, frugality, non-happiness, non-destiny, ambition, understanding ghosts, non-aggression and universal love. The core of the whole idea is "universal love", or "mutual love and mutual benefit" This is not only the core of Mozi's thought, but also the cornerstone of Mohist ideal society. Mozi's thought of "universal love" was first put forward as the opposite of Confucian "love of the benevolent". He believed that Confucian "love" was "affectionate and different", and distinguishing the distance between relatives and friends was not a real "love". Mozi's "universal love" is a universal and equal "lover", regardless of distance, wealth, "love is the same", "love others if they love themselves", reaching the realm of "everyone loves each other". Mozi's "universal love" is also related to "benefit", that is, the motivation of "love" is consistent with the effect of "benefiting people". Mozi's "mutual benefit" mainly refers to mutual respect for property ownership and equal exchange. Based on the principle of "universal love", Mozi opposed the aristocratic hereditary system, criticized it as "harming others for self-interest", "getting something for nothing", "robbing the people of food and clothing" and "getting rich for no reason", and advocated "relying on the strong to survive, but not losing". He called for selecting officials from civilians: "Although people in agriculture and industry can improve them, they deserve high honors and heavy rewards." "Officials are impermanent and expensive, and the people have no final foundation." From the perspective of safeguarding the interests of small producers, Mohism advocates the principle of "crime is not prohibited, but innocence", that is, as long as it does not violate the prohibition, even if it is harmful, it does not constitute a crime.
In order to publicize and carry out his political ideas, Mozi put forward the idea of "Heaven", that is, "Heaven" is the supreme god with will, and its will is "universal love", and "Heaven" can reward good and punish evil: "Those who love others are blessed by heaven; The wicked thief, the sky is a disaster "; Even "the son of heaven is good, and heaven rewards diligence; The emperor is evil, and Heaven will punish him ",trying to use the power of traditional theology and religion to realize his social ideal. He pointed out that people, regardless of rank, are all "heaven and man" and countries, big or small, strong or weak, are all "heavenly cities". Therefore, everyone in the world should "take heaven as the law", that is, "mutual love and mutual benefit" as the law. This religious and political opinion is not only a rebellion against the traditional patriarchal aristocratic thought, but also difficult to keep pace with the feudal thought of later generations, which is one of the important reasons why Mohism has become a "unique school". From the standpoint of maintaining the private property system of small producers and the commodity exchange relationship, Mozi opposed the aristocratic hereditary system of "getting something for nothing" and advocated the principles of equality, mutual care and equal trading, which undoubtedly had the progress of the times.